Why did you get into this profession? I entered the profession as the SOB (son of boss) in a family business. In my two-and-a-half decades in the industry, we moved from a family-managed company to one that was professionally managed with an outside board. At age 48, I realized an ambition to change jobs before my 50th birthday by liquidating the real estate and re-incorporating. A few years later, the company was acquired by Exel and still operates under that name.

What’s the most exciting thing happening today in logistics? The global expansion of the logistics service industries. Until the 1980s, there were very few multi-city warehousing firms, even less multi-state, and almost no multinational logistics service providers. Americans have lagged behind Europe and Asia in multinationals, but the trend is growing. Many users prefer to use a firm that understands their culture, so most multinationals tend to have their largest clients from their home country.

What’s your biggest concern about the industry? Maintenance of quality and integrity. Recent failure of two freight payment firms is a disturbing sign. When these firms failed earlier this year, partially because of embezzlement, their clients lost millions in unpaid freight bills. A natural reaction of shippers is to question the integrity and stability of all their logistics vendors. This industry is noted for quality and integrity, but those who are stable will need to demonstrate this to their clients.